CHAPTER

1 Reading and
Making Maps

Maps tell us several things about different places: where they are;
whether they are on the sea or on a mountain or in a desert; how hot or
cold or rainy they are; what kind of trees and plants grow; what kind of
people live - the language they speak, the work they do, their buildings,
etc. You can know many details about a place from maps. Of course not
everything is shown on one map - you may have to consult different
maps (physical maps, administrative maps, historical maps, etc.) to get
all the information. Shall we learn how to make and read a map?

District Map (political) these questions only as yes or no. eg:

You may have seen several maps in your
classroom such as the map of India and map
of Andhra Pradesh etc... Today, we will
study the map of our own district.
Š Bring two or three copies of the map
of your district to the class.
Š Locate your village/town, the nearby
villages and towns, rivers, streams,
water bodies, etc.
Š Look for information such as roads,
railway station, etc.
Š Can you work out the distances
between different places shown on
the map?
A Game
Form two groups, one team of students
should select a place on the map.
Write it down on a piece of paper
secretly, give this paper to the teacher.
Second team can ask questions about
the place. Now first team can answer
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Team two can ask questions like, Is this
place in kurnool district? Is this place
by the sea coast? Is this name of a
district head quarter?
When the team finally finds out the
place, reverse the roles and play again.
The team which finds out the name of
the place with the minimum number of
questions will be the winner.
Way to Mallika’s house-
Sketch Map
Laila and Mallika met each other at Red
Cross service activity in Srikakulam. There
they became close friends. Mallika lives
in Venkatapuram village while Laila lives
in Adilabad. Laila planned to visit Mallika’s
house in the coming holidays. She wrote a
letter asking Mallika how to reach her house
from the Bus stand. Mallika was happy
about her friend’s proposed visit. She sent
the details of location of her house with a
sketch map.
Reading and Making Maps
Fig: 1.1 Sketch showing way to Mallika’s house
landed Laila in a problem. She had no idea
Š Can you draw a sketch map of the of the distance from the Bus stop to the
house. When she reached Mallika’s house
route from your school to your
she said, “Oh! Malli I am tired. You did not
house?
Š Do you reach Mallika’s house
mention the distance in your sketch. If I
knew it was so far away I would have taken
from the bus stand with the help of
an auto,” Laila said.
the sketch map?
Š How many turnings did Laila take
“Sorry, Laila, I forgot to mention the
to reach Mallika’s house? Are there
distance,” replied Mallika. “Anyhow if you
take an auto in future please mention that
any landmarks at the turnings?
Š Are all the buildings shown in the
you have to reach South Venkatapuram - that
is where this house is situated,” said
sketch to their actual size?
Š Can you tell in which direction
Mallika.
“How can I know the South or North of
Laila walked (North or East)?
Š Can you tell the distance from the
Venkatapuram?” Laila asked.
“It is simple. Now you reached my house
bus stop to Mallika ’s house?
which is in the South of the village, the
We cannot answer the last two questions opposite side is North. Do you know how
with the help of the above map. This actually to find directions in a place?” asked
1
Mallika.
2 Social Studies

Directions Š Lalitha is towards .................... Hang a political map of Andhra

Look at the following picture carefully:
Fig: 1.2 Identification of directions
The girl in the middle is facing the rising Sun. Now fill the following table:
S.No Direction
1 East
2 South
3 North
4 West
If you stand facing the
East, all things to your
right hand side will be
towards the South; all
things to your left will be
towards the North; and all
things behind you will be
to the West.
Mallika said that let us
play a game to understand
direction of John. Pradesh on the wall. Answer the
Š Lalitha is towards .................... following questions after looking at
direction of Uttara. the map:
Š Nazar is in .................... direction Š In which direction is Chittoor to
of Sekhar. Hyderabad?
Š Nazar is towards .................... Š In which direction is Hyderabad
direction of Ram. to Medak?
Š Lakshman is towards ..................... Š In which direction is Vijayawada
direction of Somu. to Nellore?
Š Lakshman is also towards ................ Š Is Karimnagar located on the South
direction of Sekhar. to Kurnool?
Š Tara is in the .................... direction Š If you want to go from
of John. Mahabubnagar to Warangal in which
direction will you travel?
After doing this exercise Laila said,
Object Make more such questions and ask
“Wow! Now I understand that direction is
Sun, hills each other.
always relative to something! The same
place may be East or South or North or
West depending upon from where we are ‘Scale’ or distances on a map
looking at it.” On this pleasant evening Mallika took
Š Identify directions in your class Laila to see the village stream and they
room and form a similar line and walked over the bridge. The bridge has 6
Uttara ask similar questions. lamp posts at equal distance. The distance
between each post is about 100 metres. The
Tara Directions on a map entire length of the bridge is about 500
metres. Look at the following picture:
Lalitha Usually maps are prepared in
such a manner that the North
Vahida
direction is at the top of the map
and the South side is at the
Ramu Somu Joseph Akbar Nazar Robert Laxman Sekhar bottom. So, the East side is on
Tagore the right and the West side is
on the left.
Sindhu

more about directions. In some special cases maps

Yamuna
may be made with the South on
Look at the picture on the top or on the left side.
the right. Now everyone However, in such cases a
has to ask one question. John
special mention will be made on
the map and a North direction
Fig : 1.3 Directions arrow is given. Fig: 1.4 Laila and Mallika walking on the bridge
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 When they came back Laila wanted to
draw a sketch of the bridge and the lamp
posts on a paper so that she can take it with
her. When she was drawing the lamp posts
she took care to draw them at equal
distances. The distance between the first
and last lamp posts was about 5 centimetres.
Her sketch was much smaller than the
actual bridge.
Maps always mention the Scale they use
and we can find out the actual distances
between places using the Scale.
Tekkali
Symbols noticed that in the district map villages
and towns are shown with dots and circles.
You know that maps are too small for us
Map makers prepare symbols appropriate
to draw pictures of the things shown on
to their needs. But some common
them. For example, we cannot draw the real
symbols which are called ‘Conventional
school or bus stand or Mallika’s house as
Symbols’ are also used. The following is
it will take too much space on the map.
a complete map with symbols, Scale and
Therefore, we always show things on a map
proper orientation:
with the help of symbols. You may have

Srikakulam
Fig: 1.5 Laila’s sketch of the bridge

Measure the total distance in Laila’s

sketch map from lamp post one to lamp
post six. The actual distance between two
lamp posts is .........
While on the sketch the distance
between two lamp posts is only ........ cm.
and the total distance is only ......... cms. You
might have observed that Lila drawn the
lamp posts equally.
We can write down the relation between
the distance on the bridge and in the sketch
in the following way:
In the above sketch, the distance
between Srikakulam and Tekkali is given
in the form of a line. The actual distance
between these places is 50km.
Measure the line joining the two
places and find out the distance on the
map.
Actual distance between Srikakulam
and Tekkali: ______
Distance between Srikakulam and
Tekkali on the map: Can you find out
the Scale of the map? Map 1: Study the map to find out how to use the symbols

5 cm on the sketch map = ……. metres
on the bridge
1 cm on the sketch map = …....metres on
the bridge
This is called the ‘Scale’.
We use Scale for showing the actual
distance on the ground in a reduced manner
on a map.
If it is one cm on the map, what will
be the actual distance on the land?
Index
1 cm = ….. Km
Now try to look at the district map
and find out its Scale. Then measure the
distance from your village or town to a
few other villages and towns.

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Based on the map in the previous

page answer the following questions: 9. Project
Š In which direction of the church is Key words Prepare a map of your classroom by following these instructions:
the river flowing?
Š What kind of road is present on the
a) First find the four directions in your classroom by facing the North.
Sketch b) Make a list of all the walls, doors, windows, blackboards, almirahs etc. which you
South of Sripuram village?
Š Which type of railway line is
Map want to show on the map. Make symbols for each of them in your notebook.
Scale c) Draw a sketch map of the classroom with walls and location of the objects you
located near Sripuram?
Š In which direction of railway
want to show. Take care to draw the northern wall on the top side of the sketch.
Direction
d) Now, divide into small groups and measure the length of each of the walls with the
station is the police station?
Š Name the village that lies north to
help of a scale. Write down the distances on the sketch map.
e) Draw a map of the class room by selecting appropriate Scale. It can be one centimetre
railway track. for one meter. So if a wall is 7 metres long, you will have to make a line 7
Š Imagine you are in the school centimetres long on paper.
shown on the map. Which direction f) After making the outer walls, draw the symbols for windows and doors at the right
will you face if you are coming out places. Then draw the symbols for other objects like almirah, black board, table
of your school? etc.
g) Make an index of the symbols you have used in the map and also mention the Scale.
Improve your learning h) Compare the map you have made with those of your friends and correct if there are
any errors.
1. Collect different kinds of maps and study them. Clarify from your teacher if you
have any doubts.
2. Find out the distance from your mandal headquarter to the district headquarter by
converting map distance into actual distance.
3. Why is the actual distance on the ground to be reduced on the map?
4. Face towards East, stretch your hands and say directions (e.g. North, South). Next
time change the face direction and continue the exercise.
5. Explain the need of symbols while preparing maps.
6. Draw the symbols representing different water bodies, worshiping places and public
offices to show on the map.
7. Sketch your house and convert it into a map.
8. In your observation what are the important features of a map?

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 CHAPTER

2 Globe -
A Model of the Earth

One evening Sundar & Kalpana were looking at the moon and
Sundar asked, “If I went to the moon what would the earth look like?
What can I see from there?” Kalpana told him that they could easily find
out from the internet. Later she showed him some pictures of the earth
taken from the moon. This is how it looked:
Š Can you explain why the bottom
portion of the Earth is not visible in
this photograph?

The Earth is like a ball

From this picture you can see that the
shape of the Earth is like that of the Moon.
Bring to the class room some globes.
Ensure that every group of five to six
students has a globe. Globe is a model of
the Earth – it shows the shape of the Earth,
the land and water, the continents and
oceans and the main countries of the world.

Fig: 2.1 Earth rise on the Moon

Doesn’t the Earth look like a blue

moon? It looks blue because a large portion
of the Earth is covered with oceans. In the
above photograph we can see only one part Fig: 2.2 A Globe
of the earth which receives sunshine.

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